There are more than 20,000 uncontrolled hazardous waste sites in the United States in urgent need of ranking and remediation. This research program is designed to develop a comprehensive biological and chemical testing protocol which can be used to isolate and characterize the toxic contaminants of a Superfund site. Included in this program are seven individual research projects. Two groups of model compounds and model mixtures representative of an "jolly" waste and a wood preserving waste will be used in each of the first five projects. The first project evaluates extraction and isolation procedures for soil, solid waste, plants, air and water. Project 2 evaluates a battery of induction (enzymes and physo mRNA's) and cell culture assays designed to detect polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons. The third project will investigate a series of developmental toxicity tests including the Hydra and post implantation embryo culture assay, and a whole animal feeding study. Project 4 evaluates microbial bioassays to detect mutagenic chemicals, and a fifth project extends testing to include a cytogenetic analysis of laboratory rats and small mammals trapped in the field. in addition the mechanisms of carcinogenicity of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins will be investigated using the 32 P- postlabeling assay for DNA adducts. In the seventh project, preliminary mutagenic and cytogenetic data will be obtained for ten waste and matched control sites and an intensive biological and chemical characterization will be conducted at three sites. The data obtained from this testing will be integrated with the data from the model compounds and mixtures. The integrated data base and the environmental characteristics of a site can then be applied to a statistical model developed for this study to provide a more accurate procedure to obtain a hazard ranking score. This data could then be applied to a statistical model developed for this study to provide a more accurate procedure to obtain a hazard ranking score. This data could then be used to prioritize areas for remediation or to develop criteria for the remedial activities.